In case you missed it, there was a press conference earlier today announcing a partnership between Nintendo and Japanese mobile game maker DeNa (pronounced D.N.A.) I don’t want to spend too much time on the conference--which you can read in English here or watch in its entirety here--but the highlights are:

[All illustrations are slides taken from Nintendo's official corporate release and are owned by Nintendo]

-Nintendo and Japanese mobile developer DeNa have formed a partnership substantiated by a stock swap. Nintendo now holds 10% of DeNa’s stock, and DeNa holds 1% of Nintendo’s.

-Together they will be developing mobile games using Nintendo intellectual properties. These games will not be main-line Nintendo software with shoehorned touch controls, but will be all new software or Nintendo games that are already suited to touch controls. Iwata also noted that any Nintendo property could be used in its mobile games, so don’t assume your favorite series is too hardcore.

- DeNa will also be instrumental in the creation of the new Nintendo “membership” program, which (as I understand it) will be the unified, hardware-agnostic account system gamers have been asking for since the Wii launched as well as the successor to Club Nintendo.

-Lastly, in an effort to assure conference attendees that Nintendo was not abandoning gaming hardware for mobile, Iwata announced (or, more exactly, announced next year’s announcement of) a “dedicated game system,” with a “brand new concept” codenamed “NX.”

And that, as far as I recall, is it.

In all of this madness I—being as predictable as Nintendo is crazy—zeroed in on the NX announcement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy as the next guy that awkward system transfers will be a thing of the past. And, sure, the move to mobile is interesting if not exciting. But a new Nintendo hardware announcement, however vague, gets me every time.

So, what do you think NX is? I’m not asking for specs or a software lineup, just do you think it’s the successor to their handheld or home console lines, both, or perhaps some sort of third pillar as the DS was meant to be?

I also want to know what you think the “brand new concept” statement refers to. Is Iwata hinting at the a hardware gimmick for the NX, a new form factor that makes it distinct from the DS line, or its place in the market (i.e. once again, is it intended to be a third pillar)?

I'll leave my guess in a comment but I want to know what y'all think. Leave a comment and discuss!

We all know that Nintendo has a pattern of a late-lifecycle refresh for their handhelds, each one adding a new feature. The Gameboy got a color model, the GBA got a (much needed) back light and a clam shell design, and the DS got cameras and a boost in processing power. Now here comes the New 3DS with several upgrades: improved controls, NFC compatibility, a faster processor, and head tracking 3D.

Looking at each of these improvements, a pattern emerges:
-Improved controls seems to be Nintendo's (second, if you count the Circle Pad Pro) concession that some games require more inputs and especially a second analogue stick to play their best. It seems a safe bet that their next handheld with have two sticks and eight gameplay buttons out of the box.
-NFC compatibility reflects Nintendo's desire to keep pushing Amiibos. Not only will they be able to sell figurines to customers who may not have a Wii U in the short term, but they also accustom owners of their handhelds to using Amiibos for the future. Does anyone believe that NFC won't be a part of Nintendo's next handheld?
-Beefed up internals are a given for any hardware generation. Even the Wii got more grunt than it's predecessor, so of course the next Nintendo handheld will carry this trend forward.

My question then is, "If Nintendo is (we assume) going to bring each of these improvements to its next handheld, will improved glasses free 3D also make the cut?" Another point to consider is that Nintendo has never dropped an improvement brought about by their late-gen refreshes. Color, back light, and the cameras were all carried forward to their next systems.

I know, just because Nintendo has followed a certain pattern in the past doesn't mean they won't suddenly do a back flip and pull something like the Wii out of thin air. But consider, why would Nintendo bother to improve the 3D at all this late in the generation? Maybe they wanted to fix it with the 3DS XL but the tech wasn't ready, but that still doesn't answer the question, "Why now?" With all the other improvements the New 3DS brings, Nintendo didn't have to spend R&D money trying to fix the 3D effect. Why dedicate resources to a feature that fans have learned to either accept as is or ignore for the majority of the generation? The answer could just be "Nintendo gonna Nintendo," but doesn't it seem more likely that Nintendo has plans for glasses-free 3D?

So tell me, reader mine, Is the improved 3D just a coincidence, or will Nintendo double down on 3D for their next handheld? Which are you hoping for? What would your response be in either case? For those who didn't like glasses-free 3D before, do the improvements make you want to give the effect another chance, or is your mind already made up?

We likely won't know until 2016 at the earliest, but 'til then we can imagine on.

So Madcatz just unveiled their ridiculously expensive transforming controller, and I gotta say, as a concept it's pretty neat. Now, I have no idea how it handles as an actual controller (going on my past experiences with Madcatz, I'd guess it's decent but not stellar) and it's still a little too large when folded up in my opinion, but the concept behind it is very neat.They take a full sized gamepad and fold it up into something roughly the size of a Wii Remote.

Take a look at the video if you want to see it in action, though I'd recommend you watch it on mute as the unboxer is pretty obnoxious.

I've always thought transforming controllers were too impractical, but here comes Madcatz with a real, live, market-ready device. It makes me wonder if something like this might make a truly universal controller--one capable of providing both wand-style motion control inputs and traditional controls in one--possible.

Why would anyone want such a device? For starters there's a good selection of games in the Nintendo and Sony libraries that will become unplayable once the last Wii Remote dies. How will Nintendo add Skyward Sword or Wii Sports to their future virtual console lineups? I suppose they could have a dedicated motion controller, but I find their current (non)strategy of supporting various controllers for various games confusing and inelegant.

What if they could Nintendo or Sony could do it all with one controller?

What do you think? What would such a controller look like? Would it physically transform or do you have another idea of how to accomplish universal control? And how on earth do you keep the price under $300?

Let me know with a comment, and also tell me what you think of CES so far.

Tune in next time when I declare that the Tegra X1 will definitely/maybe/probably-not-but-should power Nintendo's next handheld. =P

UPDATE/CORRECTION: Turns out both new 3DS models will be launching in Japan on October 11th. The revision won't come stateside until 2015, but given that Japan will have had them for months, I think it's a safe bet that the rest of the world will get them fairly early on in 2015.

Does a 2016 4DS now seem more likely, or is 2016 still the year of the New 2DS?

I know I tend to jump the gun when it comes to gaming predictions, but I can't be the only one who saw a Nintendo 3DS successor arriving sometime in late 2015 or early 2016, right? But with today's announcement of the New 3DS you have to wonder when they're planning on putting out their next generation handheld, or is the New 3DS meant to be it?

The 3DS is dead. Long live the 3DS.

To start off with, this is kind of a weird announcement, no?

On the one hand

This move isn't completely unexpected. In fact, it almost exactly mirrors the evolution of the original DS. They start with an ugly base model (DS/3DS) then introduce an improved redesign (DSLite/3DS XL) then [if we ignore the 2DS, which to be fair sort of stands alone in its own category of weird] comes the functional upgrade redesign (DSi/New 3DS). The functional upgrades are even oddly similar: upgraded CPU, increased RAM, minor upgrades to sound or screen quality, and finally each has at least one major functional addition.

Truth be told, this is pretty much the 3DS revision we expected when Nintendo announced the XL in the first place. No, really.

Two and a half years before the announcement and a full three years before release, I absolutely nail the features list of the New 3DS--dual analogue, four shoulder buttons, NFC, dual release of the regular and XL models. The only thing I got wrong was an increase in resolution (alas, the only screen improvements we'll be getting is improved 3D viewing angles).

"So it's what we expected," you might say. "Nintendo's just a little slow to market, bless their hearts. Nothing strange about it." Right?

On the other hand

This upgrade seems like a really odd half-step. Sure, in the first year or two of a product's life when the install base is low you can put out a game-changing hardware upgrade and expect the population to adjust--think of the original Playstation which launched without the now famous dualshock controller. But this late in the game it seems a little strange.

Do they expect every 3DS/XL owner to run out and pick up a Circle Pad Pro? Are they hoping we all junk our old handhelds and buy the new iteration? Do they expect third party devs (what few there are) to take advantage of these differences? How will stores differentiate the games that work exclusively on the NEW 3DS. What kind of adoption rate are they expecting if they miss out on the holiday 2014/Smash Bros push? Is this slated for an early 2015 launch or are they waiting until the holiday?
[NOTE: As the New 3DS is launching in Japan in October, early 2015 seems much more likely.]

Which brings us to our primary discussion question: If they're launching at some point in 2015, how long will we have to wait for their next handheld?

So, is this the Next Step, a Half Step, or a Misstep?

I think this all depends on how they see the New 3DS.
Option #1: This is in fact their next flagship handheld, the system they expect to carry them through the next five years until they see the need to make another leap in resolution/processing power/etc.
Option #2: This is a stopgap system, a handheld whose sole purpose is to keep sales up until their true next gen handheld is ready to launch.
Option #3: Nintendo isn't sure what their consumers want so they're taking a shot in the dark. They'll see how this New 3DS is received then decide where to go from their.

My guess? I'm pulling for #2.

So, how long until the next next step?

Assuming Option #1 is true, we've got a long wait ahead of us before we see another generational leap from Nintendo. That means we'll have that sweet, sweet 240p gaming to look forward to until 2020. On the bright side, users won't have to upgrade their systems for a while, and development costs will stay fixed for Nintendo.

Assuming Option #2, the 4DS (or whatever) could launch anywhere from a year to two years after this NEW 3DS. That might seem a little tight, but the 3DS was launched less than a year after the release of the DSiXL in North America.

I keep pushing the facts around in my head, but I can't seem to make sense of this move. What do you think? Why are Nintendo launching this device so long after the original 3DS? What does that mean for their next handheld, or is the New 3DS (possibly the only name more confusing than Wii U that they could think up)? And, finally, the real question on everyone's minds, when will we see the New 2DS?

He's baaaaaack... which means some sort of crazy Nintendo rumor has hit the internet!

Neogaf user Fourth Storm may have just uncovered the first solid hint as to the hardware of the 3DS's successor. Or maybe not. He's connecting a vague statement by an AMD executive, an earlier post by known Neogaf insider wsippel, and statements by Iwata on Nintendo's future hardware design. So, yeah, this is my kind of rumor!

Okay! Sure' it's all very thin as far as concrete evidence, but Fourth Storm (who makes no attempt to push his theory as fact) makes a compelling argument nonetheless. In any case if his prediction ends up being accurate--that is, that the next Nintendo handheld launches with an AMD SoC inside and the corresponding console features an ARM CPU for a unified hardware architecture--then somebody owes this (I assume) man a beer. And for the chance to speculate months in advance of our typical Nintendo leak schedule, I'm more than happy to foot the bill.